


A Day at Walden's Pond

by tuesday



Series: Fishing for Trout [4]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Bad Flirting, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Getting Together, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23713792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday/pseuds/tuesday
Summary: The worst part was, Nora had seen the behemoth coming.  Everyone had seen the behemoth coming.  Large as a building, loud as a freight train in the days they were more than rusted out temporary shelters, and with a stench as strong as the sewers under Walden Pond?  There was no way to miss it.
Relationships: Female Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine
Series: Fishing for Trout [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713781
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34
Collections: What Fen Do (Instead of Going Outside), When Death Loves Flamingos





	A Day at Walden's Pond

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Masu_Trout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/gifts).



The worst part was, Nora had seen the behemoth coming. Everyone had seen the behemoth coming. Large as a building, loud as a freight train in the days they were more than rusted out temporary shelters, and with a stench as strong as the sewers under Walden Pond? There was no way to miss it.

But as clearly as she had seen it coming and as quickly as she darted to safety, that hadn’t helped a bit with getting _Nick_ out of the way in time as the behemoth moved with surprising, terrifying speed and knocked him right through the wall of the Walden Pond gift shop. 

Even with a rocket launcher and rail gun, it took a while to wear the behemoth down until finally, with a tremendous crash, the behemoth collapsed. In that time, Nick hadn’t moved. When Nora checked on him, she could see something visibly sparking through the exposed metal part of his face where the flesh mask had been damaged long before they had ever met.

“Nick,” Nora said softly while a distant part of her screamed, _No, no, no._ “C’mon, Nick. Don’t tell me you’re ready for the scrap heap yet.”

There was an awful grinding noise as Nick slowly turned to face Nora. “I think—” He winced, but the movement was jerky, more obviously mechanical than usual. “I think that might have damaged something.”

Nora laughed, a wet, relieved sound. “Yeah, it just might have.” She dropped her pack beside Nick and said, “Fortunately, I brought a repair kit.”

“Gonna open me up and operate, doc?” Nick asked.

“If you’ll let me,” Nora said. She put her hands to the lapels of Nick’s trench coats, then paused. “Is this okay?”

“I always knew you wanted to get your hands on this trench coat.” The corner of Nick’s lips pulled up. “Your own personal set wasn’t enough for you, was it?”

“Maybe I want to get my hands on what’s underneath,” Nora retorted, pulling it off and revealing the ragged suit beneath it. “I’ll admit, I’m eager to see what’s under this old suit.”

“I know, you need to see what’s wrong before you can fix it.”

“That, too.” Nora peeled Nick’s shirt open. 

It probably said something about Nora and the world she lived in now that being confronted with the damaged casing of Nick’s chest wasn’t weird or horrific except in the sense that Nick was injured. If this were under different circumstances, closeted away in the safety and privacy of Home Plate, with Nick actively encouraging what was about to happen instead of accepting it for necessity’s sake, Nora would want to take her time, would enjoy stripping away Nick’s clothes and exploring everything revealed. While there was no pressing danger, raiders long since cleared out and behemoth dead, she was determined to get this over with quickly so they could get Nick back to a workshop with a full set of tools instead of the travel set she’d brought with her and the bits and bobs she had in her pack to patch him back together.

Nick must have taken her attempts at professionalism the wrong way, because when she was done and he was once more capable of taking off and (unfortunately) putting on clothes by himself, he wasted no time shrugging it all back on, turned away from her as he tried and failed to do back up the buttons with slightly clumsy hands.

“I can help—” Nora said.

“I’ve got it.” Nick’s smile was lopsided, and Nora didn’t think it was because of the damage this time. “You shouldn’t have to see this for any longer than you wanted to.”

It felt like a bad time for it, but then, it never felt like the right time. First, there was her son, and then there was the Institute, and now there was picking back up the pieces of the world left behind. Right this very second, there was getting Nick home safely, because he was currently held together by typewriter parts and duct tape.

Nora gave her best cocky smile, which admittedly might be a bit wan in comparison to her usual grin, what with the previous excitement and her current case of nerves—but she had a lot of experience smiling after excitement or in situations where she just wasn’t feeling it, and a less than optimal Nora smile was much more charming than your average wastelander’s. See: all those times she ran into Cricket straight from a firefight and offloaded a ton of raider armor and pipe pistols at prices she and Cricket both knew Cricket wouldn’t give to anyone else. It was a good smile, was the point.

Nora hoped it was good enough. She caught Nick’s hands and said, “If that’s the case, you’d be naked all the time, and then who would recognize you without your signature detective’s outfit?” She winced a little internally. She’d worked so hard on the smile she hadn’t actual thought through what she was going to say.

Despite what was probably the least smooth line she’d ever delivered, Nick stilled. He didn’t pull away. “Is that so?”

“Maybe you could be dressed while we’re traveling, so I can actually focus on where I’m walking,” Nora allowed, doing the buttons up for Nick now.

Nick’s smile widened, evened out. “That eager to get on the road?”

“That eager to get home.” Nora smoothed down the lapels of Nick’s trench coat, dusting off some of the brick dust along the way.

“Yeah.” Nick sounded rather cheerful for a man whose spine clicked when he moved. “Suddenly, I’m looking forward to it, too.”


End file.
